Rails CEO Jeff Abrams discusses how the Californian brand is diving into European retail

“Over the last 15 years, we have grown from a 5,000-dollar investment to over 750 million dollars in retail sales, to date,” said Jeff Abrams, creative director and founder of Californian lifestyle brand Rails, in a conversation with FashionUnited.

Since the brand’s founding in 2008, the company has grown beyond its LA-roots in pursuit of international markets, with the past two years’ focus on expanding physical retail.

Despite beginning its brick-and-mortar journey at the beginning of the pandemic, the label has welcomed significant success, connecting with consumers through its thoughtful use of materials and its expansion to a lifestyle brand and collection. “We have a very family-style operation, but it still feels like it’s year one for us, even with all the amazing things we are doing,” Abrams added. “We still work with suppliers, sales partners, agencies, and wholesalers who have been in our network since the beginning. But we've had this amazing growth story.”

Following the opening of a series of Europe-based brick and mortar stores, Abrams spoke to FashionUnited on the Californian brand’s rapid retail expansion and how he believes it is drawing in a new consumer market.

Where did Rails get its start in the industry?

We grew up in the wholesale world, selling to other retailers and building our business year after year. We became well known for our super-soft, cashmere-like shirts. I was first-to-market in using this type of fabrication within the shirting category, so it really put us on the map in the contemporary fashion market.

As we expanded, we evolved the collection from shirts to dresses to outerwear and knitwear, then we introduced denim. We always kept this idea of combining ‘effortless California’ style with a more international-inspired aesthetic. We continued to go back to the idea of soft-to-the-touch materials, which is what customers have connected with in every market.

In the last couple of years, we’ve started to open our own physical brick and mortar stores. We still value and cultivate our wholesale partners, but it’s also nice for customers to experience the lifestyle and DNA of our brand and shop the breadth of the collection within our retail environment.

We opened our first store in New York about two years ago. It was right in the middle of covid-19, so we opportunistically started our journey into physical retail at a challenging time which was ultimately a great opportunity to connect directly with our customers. We now have eight stores, including two in London, one in Paris and one in Amsterdam, which we just opened and are really excited about, and are looking for additional locations around Europe.

What strategy did you follow to prepare for this retail expansion?

It goes back to the early days, and even links with how I got the name ‘Rails’. I had been traveling around on the EuroRail, living in Italy and going to various European countries where I had felt inspired by what I was seeing. The roots of the brand are based on these travels around Europe. Our strategy from day one was to be a global lifestyle brand, and I think we’re doing things differently from brands who are in our space.

We physically go to each market and we establish sales relationships either with a distributor or a sales partner. We partner with PR agencies in each market to build a local community. We then try to understand how our brand works in the market. How can we tell our story directly to the customer? It’s a very hands-on approach.

What concept have you adopted for your physical stores?

Our overall concept is to bring the Californian lifestyle to each of these international markets. The aesthetic is soft, with a white background and wooden palette. We have a lot of greenery, or we often bring cacti into the space. In Amsterdam we have a little garden in the back, and when you walk in it feels like you’re in Palm Springs. It’s a picture-perfect place and it feels like a slower experience. That’s what we’ve been trying to do with the stores – to not make them so much about the transactional experience of purchasing. It is more for people to come in and feel like it’s their home away from home. It’s working in every market that we’re going into.

As we are a Californian brand, our heritage tends to be a little closer to warmer weather, where colours tend to be bright. We really ‘own’ that time of year. However, we’ve had to learn how to become a true autumn/winter brand – incorporating more knitwear and heavy outerwear to build on a full year collection. I think we’ve done a great job of making those seasons feel connected to our heritage and still feel accessible.

Why do you think this inherently Californian branding is working so well in Europe?

There is a relaxed yet refined element to our brand ethos that is resonating in the international markets. We always emphasise the product first. Even if customers don’t know anything about our brand, when they walk into the store and feel the materials, there’s something they immediately connect with. For us, that’s first and foremost, and it seems to have worked in every market. Then I think it also has to do with local connections – speaking directly to the customer and showing the enthusiasm that we’re bringing to the market.

Next to physical retail, have you also been investing in the e-commerce side of the business too?

Five or six years ago, our business was nearly 100 percent wholesale. In the last couple of years, we’ve focused both on our retail expansion and on e-commerce. Direct-to-consumer is getting close to around 35 to 40 percent of our business, and e-commerce has had a huge growth – not only in the US, but internationally. European customers are visiting the site, and we ship many of our orders from our warehouse in the Netherlands. The experience feels much more local.

The recent store opening in Amsterdam has proved to be a lucrative addition to the portfolio. What was the experience like opening in the Dutch market?

We’ve been very happy with the performance, and it’s only been five months. We’ve always loved Amsterdam as a global location, and we have many local customers discovering the brand and tourists who may know the brand from their local market. The Nine Streets (De Negen Straatjes) is an area where we can talk to all of those customers at one time.

What we have found in Amsterdam is that there is a constant footfall, from locals and tourists, and even people from other cities in the Netherlands that are visiting and being able to shop our brand. It feels like there is a regular flow of traffic.

We may also have the opportunity to open a shop with De Bijenkorf in Spring 2023. This interest arose from them coming to the store and seeing how the brand could be displayed in a full setting. We’re in discussions with them now on how we can bring the Rails experience to the luxury department store.

Can you tell me about your stores in the UK?

In the UK we have two stores. One is our flagship store in Covent Garden, which is around 2,500 square feet and is home to the full men’s and women’s range. Then we have a neighbourhood store in Notting Hill, similar to the one in Amsterdam, where there is a really great range but it’s a slightly more curated selection.

You've previously opened pop-ups as well. How has that experience differed in comparison to permanent brick and mortar?

We know that physical retail is an important part of our brand evolution. If we do a short-term pop-up, we still invest a significant amount of upfront money in building out the store and making the experience right. But we don’t have enough time to monetize that space. Based on all of the data we have around where our customer is shopping, we are making commitments to a longer-term strategy around retail, selecting locations where we can build an experience for both existing and new customers.

We do create seasonal pop-ups in premium department stores, like Selfridges in the UK, where we recently had a three-month pop up over the summer which was hugely successful. We also opened a permanent shop in Galeries Lafayette in Paris, where similar to the Netherlands, we are looking to build across our stand-alone retail stores, concession models with key retailers, and in the wholesale channel.

You have just launched a new denim line. How did this category come into realisation?

We have always paired back as the top half to premium denim and being an LA-based brand where the premium denim market was born, it felt like a natural evolution to offer denim. We’ve tried to do it in a way that feels connected to our brand, so again, sourcing amazing fabrics, focusing on fit and having a sustainable or philanthropic element to the denim. Per every pair of denim someone buys, it provides one year of clean water access to somebody who doesn’t have it, as part of our partnership with Water.org.

We’re first focusing distribution on a number of key accounts and our own stores to build the category in a considered way. Denim is much more of a personal experience than other garments. There’s a lot of product knowledge involved in selling denim and of course, fit and fabric is super important. We have an extremely brand loyal customer base and look forward to building repeat customers in this category as well.

What is your manufacturing process?

We’ve partnered with the same factories for 10 to 15 years, so we understand how they are producing the product and the people behind the company. Where we can, we are introducing more and more sustainable elements to the collection. Almost 50 percent of our collection now is either fully or partially sustainable. This makes up some of our bestselling categories. We’re by no means a fully sustainable company, but as we expand, we are trying to figure out how to become more thoughtful with our production process and our environmental impact.

Why was this emphasis on materials so important to you personally?

In the first few years, I was just discovering how to even make clothes and create a collection. I focused on shirting as a category that had longevity, that wasn’t going to be trend-driven and could also repeat season-after-season. I knew I needed a point of difference to make it feel special, and that’s where the fabric came in. It took me a number of tries, testing different fabric constructions. Once I saw what customers were responding to it, it really became the core of my brand. The fabrics we use provide an effortless sense of elegance, where you don’t have to try so hard because the fabric feels amazing.

What’s next for Rails?

There are a lot of things we are working on simultaneously. We’re in the early stages of our retail expansion, currently looking for additional stores in Germany, France, and Denmark. We also continue to thoughtfully expand the women’s and men’s collections. Customers are loving the product and organically buying into all categories. We’re constantly exploring new opportunities and might eventually launch home goods, like blankets and pillows – items that relate to the decor of our stores and the feel of the fabrics.

What advice would you give to an independent entrepreneur hoping to launch or expand a brand?

As I came from a background that had nothing to do with fashion, I didn’t have a game plan. To me, one of the most effective things to understand was that there is no blueprint for success. There’s no exact path in building a brand. You need a strong sense of creativity, but also a commercial sensibility, to ensure you’re making products the consumer wants to buy.

With any business or venture there are a lot of obstacles and risks, so you need to be determined and motivated. You need to be resilient and try not to emotionalise on elements that don’t go your way, because the entire process of building a business is problem solving. Most importantly, you should enjoy the journey. Whatever you’re doing, you need to enjoy the work and process. That’s what it is all about, not just the financial goal at the end.